Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, December 28, 2025

Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Prayer Over the Offerings for the Feast of the Holy Family.

This week we Lectio thehe Liturgy with the Prayer Over the Offerings for the Feast of the Holy Family. This prayer isn’t just about the Holy Family, it’s about yours.

We offer you, Lord, the sacrifice of conciliation, humbly asking that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mother of God and Saint Joseph, you may establish our families firmly in your grace and your peace. Through Christ our Lord.

Set firm in God's Grace and Peace

My first thought as I reflected on this prayer was that if I’m offering the Lord a sacrifice of conciliation, I should probably know what that is.

In the Latin form of the prayer, for conciliation, we find the word placationis. It means a pacifying. In regard to the faith, it means an offering that is pleasing and pure, and that offering is Christ’s.

In English, conciliation means that things are in their proper places. In the prayer, we offer the perfect sacrifice that brings things to be aligned properly, back to peace and order.

What we are asking for in the prayer is that our families would be established, or set firm, in God’s grace and peace, and that this foundation comes through the intercession of the Mother of God and Saint Joseph.

How can Mary and Joseph pray for us? Because they are part of the Communion of Saints. As Christians, we believe in eternal life in Jesus. Those who have passed are no longer with us in body, but they are alive in Christ and they are now closer to Jesus than anyone could be.

The Power of Intercessory Prayer

I thought a lot about what it means to have Mary and Joseph intercede for us. In the Catholic faith, there are basically four types of prayer. We have the prayer of blessing and adoration, through which we praise God. We have prayer of thanksgiving when we thank God for what He has done and has given. Prayers of petition are offered when we ask God for what we need or we ask for His forgiveness, and we say prayers of intercession when we ask for what others need.

To intercede for others can be a simple prayer, perhaps similar to praying for someone on the church prayer chain, “Lord, please be with Doris today as she has surgery, and be with the surgeon. I also ask for a quick healing for her. Amen.”

However, to intercede is intended to mean that we stand in the gap for someone else. It produces in you a deep yearning to put the person and their need in the hands of Jesus and you are the one performing the hand-off.

Now, imagine the two people who were closest to Jesus during His time on earth, The Virgin Mother of God and Saint Joseph, in His presence again as part of the Communion of Saints, interceding for you, but not just for you. They are interceding for your family, that they would be firmly placed in HIs grace and peace. They want your family to be a holy family, too.

There are many families who have members who no longer practice the faith. I am sure that parents and grandparents have offered countless prayers for them. Now I invite you to consider this week’s prayer as a model for your intercession, whether it be for health, or for distance, or for unity for your family, that through this perfect sacrifice of Jesus, ask Mary and Joseph, that through their intercession, your family could be like theirs, not perfect, (because we’re human), but holy. May holy families in the world today reflect the love between the Holy Family.

Lectio the Liturgy Sunday December 28, 2025